It's generally known that the Hellgrammite, or the larva stage of life of the Dobsonfly, is a great smallmouth bass fly, but few know that this nymph is also frequently eaten by brown trout. As you probably do know, brown trout can live and grow large in water that gets warmer than rainbow or brook trout can live in. In the typical mountain freestone trout stream with both browns and rainbows, you will usually find the browns existing far below, or downstream of the rainbows. I mention that because the hellgrammite isn't found in very cold water; however, they will live in water on the lower end of the temperature scale where trout exist.

The last time I remember getting a lot of them in out kick nets was in the spring creek section of Abrams Creek. That's what I call the portion of Abrams Creek above the confluence of Mill Creek. We ended up with more hellgrammite larvae than mayfly or stonefly nymphs. The reason I remember it is they bite. Not paying close attention to what's in the net and used to just reaching in with my fingers and picking up the stonefly and mayfly nymphs, I remember getting the blood pinched out of my fingers a few times before I got selective in what I was picking up. There's not any brown trout in Abrams (there was at one time) but if there was, they would have plenty to eat above the foot bridge at the end of the Abrams Falls parking lot at the South end of the Cove. We have found concentrations of them just about everywhere we have checked in the lower ends of the streams draining out of the park but they exist in all of the them upstream to the point at which I expect the temperature averages a cooler temperature than they prefer. You will find them downstream anywhere you would find smallmouth bass well below the temperatures considered marginal for brown trout.

The dobsonflies deposit their eggs on the bottom side of leaves and stems of bushes and trees. The eggs hatch into larvae and fall off into the water where they live until they hatch. The larvae are predators that eat other insects.

The adult Dobsonfly is a very large fly that looks a lot like a stonefly. They are nocturnal, so it's doubtful you will see them very often in the daylight hours. The adults only live a few daysduring which time they mate and deposit their eggs in the darkness of the night.

Hellgrammites prefer the riffles and runs, or at least they do during the warmer months of the year. You fish the Hellgrammite fly exactly like you would a clinger mayfly or stonefly nymph imitation. You should keep the fly on the bottom by weighting it down. Most of the time an up, or an up and across presentation works best. Short-line nymphing or "high sticking" also works with the hellgrammite imitation.

Our "Perfect Fly" Hellgrammite looks about as bad as the real thing. It's body is dubbed with course, heavy material wrapped with wire to hold the rubber legs in place. The antennae and legs are turkey biots. We have these in a hook size 6, which is a fairly large fly and about the average size of the fully grown larvae.